Chris, About 1810 a lot of land in the east (Va and NC) was sold for taxes because people had gone west and left their parents.. When the parents died, sometimes their land was not claimed by their children and it was sold for taxes.. In Va. and probably, in NC such tax sales were signed by the Sheriff.. If you can determine who the sheriff of the county was at the time, you might find deeds for the land signed by him.. Once that sale is found, it can be traced by Grantee and Grantor Deed indexes from there on.. I have found some Sheriff sales in unfiled records in Va..(by accident) and went to the name of the person who bought the land in the Deed Book and found a discription of the land...... G. Lee Hearl Authentic Appalachian Storyteller Abingdon, VA.